Bay is an Island

Rating: 6/10 (26 July 2005)

Michael Bay is the big-budget Hollywood action director film critics love to hate, and although I have enjoyed most of his movies in the past, I am left here with little case to 'defend' him this time around.
Although, the beginning of the movie peeked my curiosity with subtle sci-fi that seemed to lead somewhere, the remainder of the movie was melodramatic, cliché and rather unoriginal. A lot of fault obviously reside with the screenplay that starts to weave a story that it is not ready to tell properly. The novelty, intrigue, subtly and humour are soon thrown out the window (like the characters).
Bay's fault is two-fold as he gives us little good drama or believable romance and some rather average action sequences as compared to his other much more riveting scenes in his prior movies. A car sequence is in fact a mere variation on the same theme of Bad Boy 2 - minus the healthy humour. It is true that Bay has been more apt at action than drama, but it seems here that he might have been better off picking one or the other if he was to do either correctly.
On the good side, the story and concept are quite interesting and the situations lead to some reflections and even a few good laughs before the halfway mark of the movie. Also, the two lead actors do a fine job and bring the viewer in with character presence and quirky idiosyncrasies. They feel real, although the 'romance' doesn't. Steve Buscemi is also his usual good support character and delivers his lines dexterously.
The ultimate pitfall of the movie is that the dialog and story are too black & white and try to leave you with a moral high ground acceptance with little actual effort or conviction. The story shows a gross caricature of good, evil and innocence that is certain to insult the audience on some level. It doesn't help also that the action and drama can be overly unbelievable at times and inconsistent.
Bottom Line: Good in theory, Average in practice.